Miami Heat Respond to Brandon Jennings' Comments About 1st-Round Series

The 66-16 Miami Heat won't be fazed by the 38-44 Milwaukee Bucks this postseason.

Despite recent comments from Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings predicting that the eighth-seeded underdog would beat the Heat in six games, the defending NBA champions have taken the high road, according to ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh.

Miami's players were asked on Friday about the following tweet posted by the Milwaukee Bucks' official Twitter account on Thursday.

Heat coach Erik Spoestra responded as only a coach can, with an appropriate basketball cliche:

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This series will be decided between those four lines. And you can't hide from that.

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Meanwhile, leading MVP candidate LeBron James brushed off the comments and reminded everyone where Miami's focus lies heading into the postseason:

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Whatever their confidence or motivation is, that's for them to figure out. We're only concentrated on what we're doing here.

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Dwyane Wade backed up James' comments:

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We've got enough motivation. We have a big goal in mind. We were put together to win a championship, not to just make the playoffs.

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Chris Bosh didn't exactly fire back at Jennings and the Bucks, but he certainly set the stage for an intense first-round series:

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If they already had our attention, now they have more of it. If they want to show their hand, that's fantastic.

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Smart or dumb, Jennings' bold claim isn't at all surprising.

Sure, the Bucks have lost seven of their last nine games and are the only team with a losing record suiting up this postseason. But while it may have been a better idea for Jennings to keep quiet to avoid giving Miami added incentive to end this series in four games, NBA fans can at least appreciate his confidence.

Miami will host Milwaukee on Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET in Game 1 of the two teams' Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. 

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